Films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dangal had scripts along with the superstars hence, it doubled the scores. So star-power is always there. If Zero had any other actor instead of Shah Rukh Khan, it would have made even less at the box office. All these big stars have their own loyal audience but yes, the film didn’t turn out to be good and somewhere it went wrong. And it’s the director’s fault too as they couldn’t get the film to reach that level.
These days whoever has a phone is a film critic and there is too much negativity around it. Zero and Thugs of Hindostan would have done Rs 20-30 crore more if there had been less negativity. People don’t understand economics but Race 3 did more business than the first two parts. But with a Salman Khan film, people expect it to cross Rs 200-300 crore.
Also when dealing with a big star, the director should be bold enough to say no if he thinks the actor is not sitting well with the character. He should be very sharp with his thoughts. It’s also confirmed news that some agencies were hired to kill the Salman Khan brand name as you need the star power to enter the Rs 300 crore club. Cinema, web series and television are going to stay because we have a mix of crowd.